Seattle Opera Receives a $750,000 Technology Boost

Seattle Opera announced today that the company will receive a $750,000 grant from the Wallace Foundation. The grant, which will be dispersed over a four-year period, will be used to increase accessibility to opera through new technologies.

Seattle Opera’s Excellence Award initiative will be divided into four years, each with a distinct emphasis. In the first year, Seattle Opera will work to create virtual communities in conjunction with its renowned Ring Cycle. During the second year, the company will use the world premiere of its first commissioned American opera, Amelia, to establish collaborative relationships with community groups and arts organizations in the Pacific Northwest. The third year will mark the debut of a simulcast to reach a broader range of potential audiences, and in the final year, the company will evaluate the success of the previous years’ activities, with the goal of producing a model that can be shared with other arts organizations.

Seattle Opera Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale hopes the grant will help the company connect with new audiences and deepen its relationships with current operagoers. “People will be able to experience opera in a variety of ways outside of the opera house, through new technologies that we hope, by the end of four years, may create a new model of audience engagement.”

The Foundation selected nine local arts organizations to receive a total of $6.1 million in grants. In addition to Seattle Opera, recipients include Seattle Art Museum, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Youth Symphony, Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, One Reel, On the Boards, and SIFF (Seattle Cinema).